Bang & Olufsen launched its new wireless speaker platform at CEDIA Expo 2013, Denver, Colorado with the company unveiling the system as the first ever to use wireless technology robust enough for high-end digital sound.
The new wireless technology offers 24-bit, uncompressed music wirelessly using WiSA’s (Wireless Speaker and Audio Association) open standard. The WiSA platform utilises the relatively uncongested 5.2-5.8 GHz range to avoid interference from other signals, and to provide enough bandwidth to stream 24-bit, uncompressed music at native sampling rates. The system provides enough channels to drive anything from a pair of speakers to a full-blown 7.1 surround system without the wires.
The company will introduce the first next-generation speakers to incorproate the new platform later this autumn. These will have the ability to connect to any WiSA compliant third-party television, Blu-ray player, AV receiver or the like.
Bang & Olufsen also collaborated with wireless audio company Summit Semiconductor in the developing the new standard.
“WiSA certification ensures the best available quality in high-definition wireless audio,” commented WiSA president Jim Venable. “We are proud to announce that the first brand to achieve the WiSA stamp of approval is also one of the world’s most iconic champions of amazing sound. Bang & Olufsen is paving the way to a new generation of wireless speakers of uncompromising quality.”
Other features of the technology, such as the Dynamic Frequency Selection, enables WiSA-certified speakers to overcome the latency and error problems that often affect low-end wireless speaker solutions. These are said to have been been eliminated by the new standard’s fixed latency of just 5ms.
